UC-NRLF 


PROCEEDINGS  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE 
PRESENTATION  OF  THE  GOLD  MEDAL 
TO  THE  CITY  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO  BY 
THE  REPUBLIC  OF  FRANCE  AT  THE  HANDS 
OF  HER  AMBASSADOR  HIS  EXCELLENCY 
JEAN  JULES  JUSSERAND. 


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PROCEEDINGS 

ON    THE    OCCASION    OF 

THE  PRESENTATION   OF 

THE  GOLD  MEDAL 

TO  THE  CITY  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO 
BY  THE   REPUBLIC   OF   FRANCE 

AT  THE  HANDS  OF  HER  AMBASSADOR  HIS  EXCELLENCY 
JEAN  JULES  JUSSERAND 


SAN  FRANCISCO 
1909 


sA4 


Printed  br 
San  Francisco 


PROCEEDINGS  ON  THE  OCCASION  '^r- ttlE 
PRESENTATION  OF  THE  GOLD  MEDAL  TO 
THE  CITY  OF  SAN  FRANCISCO  BY  THE  RE- 
PUBLIC OF  FRANCE  AT  THE  HANDS  OF  HER 
AMBASSADOR  HIS  EXCELLENCY  JEAN  JULES 
JUSSERAND 

At  half-past  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Saturday,  the 
fifth  day  of  June,  1909,  a  large  assemblage  of  the  people 
of  San  Francisco  gathered  at  the  Orpheum  Theatre  for  the 
purpose  of  viewing  the  presentation  of  the  Gold  Medal 
which  had  been  designed  and  struck  by  order  of  the  French 
Government  as  a  gift  to  the  City  of  San  Francisco  and  to 
the  American  people  in  commemoration  of  the  resurrection 
of  that  City  from  the  great  disaster  of  1906. 

There  were  seated  upon  the  stage  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  the  Chief  Justice  and  Associate  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  the  Judges  of  the  Appellate 
District  Court  for  the  First  District,  the  Judges  of  the 
Superior  Court  for  San  Francisco,  the  public  officials  of  the 
City,  the  Consul  General  of  France  for  California  and  other 
members  of  the  Consular  Corps. 

The  proceedings  were  opened  by  the  orchestra  rendering 
the  overture  to  the  opera  of  Robespierre. 


The  Mayor  of  the  City,  Edward  Robeson  Taylor,  pre- 
sented the  Ambassador  in  words,  as  follows : 


-^5!  720 


r^tl^c^DijIdf  •  Sin,  Frahcisco : 

We  are  here  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  manifesting 
our  appreciation  of  the  honor  about  to  be  conferred  upon 
San  Francisco  by  the  Republic  of  France  through  her  dis- 
tinguished Ambassador  —  an  honor,  I  venture  to  assert 
without  parallel  in  the  history  of  cities.  I  therefore 
take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  him  to  you.  Citizens,  I 
present  to  you  His  Excellency  Jean  Jules  Jusserand, 
Ambassador  from  the  Republic  of  France  to  the  Republic 
of  the  United  States. 

Thereupon,  the  Ambassador  spoke  as  follows: 

I  bring  to  you  a  message  from  France. 

Since  the  early  days  of  American  independence  no  great 
event  has  happened  in  this  country  without  awakening  a 
friendly  echo  in  distant  France.  The  earliest  message  came 
from  that  noble-hearted  young  officer  La  Fayette  who  said : 
"When  I  heard  of  American  independence,  my  heart  en- 
listed." The  heart  of  France  herself  enlisted  then,  officers 
and  privates,  soldiers  and  civilians. 

The  feelings  thus  begun  have  been  happily  continued; 
as  has  been  shown  from  year  to  year  by  such  events  as  the 
French  National  Assembly  suspending  its  sittings  at  the 
news  of  Franklin's  death,  as  the  whole  French  nation  going 
into  mourning  with  flags  at  half  mast  when  Washington 
died,  as  the  United  States  asking  from  France  New  Orleans 
and  receiving  Louisiana,  as  the  sorrow  felt  at  the  death  of 
Lincoln  and  a  popular  subscription  being  opened  in  France 
for  an  appropriate  token  of  admiration  and  sympathy  to 
be  offered  to  his  widow ;  and  by  many  other  proofs  of  per- 
severing friendship. 


America  has  reciprocated  these  feelings,  the  intimacy  be- 
tween the  two  nations  has  ceaselessly  grown,  especially  since 
a  similitude  in  institutions  has  brought  closer  together  the 
two  greatest  Republics  of  the  world.  When  La  Fayette 
died  in  1834,  ^^  same  honors  were  rendered  in  the  United 
States  to  his  memory  "as  were  observed,"  we  read  in  Presi- 
dent Andrew  Jackson's  General  Orders,  "upon  the  decease 
of  Washington,  the  Father  of  his  country,  and  his  contem- 
porary in  arms."  France  will  ever  remember  that  when 
she  celebrated  by  a  Universal  exposition  in  1889,  the  anni- 
versary of  French  liberty,  only  one  nation  officially  took 
part  in  the  great  concourse  and  that  was  the  United  States. 
She  will  never  forget  that  when  the  unprecedented  catas- 
trophe of  Mont  Pele  at  Martinique  swept  to  death  35,000 
of  her  sons,  no  nation  came  so  quickly  and  so  generously  to 
the  rescue  as  the  United  States.  And  she  will  also  remem- 
ber what  took  place  three  years  ago  when  according  to  a 
law  of  Congress  a  medal  was  struck  to  commemorate,  on 
the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  Franklin's  birth,  the  way 
in  which  France  had  received  him  when  he  had  come  to  tell 
the  woes  of  the  struggling  thirteen  States.  As  dearly  as 
the  gift  itself,  will  ever  be  cherished  in  France  the  words 
by  which  one  of  the  wisest,  best  and  greatest  of  your  states- 
men, the  then  Secretary  of  State  Elihu  Root,  presented  it 
to  the  representative  of  France :  "Take  it,  he  said,  for  your 
country,  as  a  token  that  with  all  the  changing  manners  of 
the  passing  years,  with  all  the  vast  and  welcome  influx  of 
new  citizens  from  all  the  countries  of  the  earth,  Americans 
have  not  forgotten  their  fathers  and  their  fathers'  friends. 
Know  by  it  that  we  have  in  America  a  sentiment  for  France ; 
and  a  sentiment,  enduring  among  a  people,  is  a  great  and 
substantial  fact  to  be  reckoned  with." 


Deeply  moved  by  such  words  I  rose  to  reply,  and  as  I 
was  expressing  French  gratitude,  surrounded  as  I  was  by 
men  and  women  representing  all  that  was  best  and  most 
beautiful  in  the  nation,  gathered  together  at  Philadelphia, 
in  the  midst  of  that  warmth,  friendship  and  splendor,  the 
thought  flashed  on  me  that  at  that  very  moment,  on  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific,  San  Francisco  was  dying.  Filled  as 
well  as  all  my  nation  with  sympathy  for  such  misery,  I 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  next  token  of  the  friendship 
between  our  two  republics  might  commemorate,  not  the 
disaster,  but  the  resurrection  of  your  city  so  as  to  recall 
not  only  the  American  nation's  sorrow  but  her  unfailing 
heroism  and  energy. 

When  I  had  thus  spoken,  on  the  2oth  of  April,  1906,  we 
knew  but  very  imperfectly  in  the  East  what  was  happening 
in  the  West,  but  I  knew  too  well  the  American  temper  to 
have  any  doubt  as  to  what  fight  against  adversity  your 
shores  were  then  seeing,  and  as  to  what  resurrection  they 
would  see  later. 

It  was  soon  learnt  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  stricken 
city  had  behaved  indeed  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  whole 
nation  proud  of  them.  When  an  unexpected  danger  or 
catastrophe  overtakes  a  man  he  has  sometimes  not  the  tenth 
part  of  a  second  to  make  up  his  mind  and  decide  what  to 
do;  and  the  question  is  an  awful  one:  Will  he  be  a  hero*? 
Will  he  prove  a  mean  thing*?  His  reason,  his  intelligence, 
his  heart  even,  have  no  time  to  look  the  circumstances  in 
the  face  and  decide.  What  is  it  then  that  decides?  It  is 
his  past  life. 

The  past  life  of  a  city  where  pluck,  energy,  fearlessness 
are  more  common  than  even  gold  in  her  banks  supplied  the 
decision.    In  one  short  hour  before  dawn  all  civil  life  had 


been  abolished,  all  wealth  had  been  annulled,  all  men  and 
women  were  on  a  level,  dispossessed  of  everything;  it  was 
really  the  equality  of  after  death  that  was  beginning  among 
the  living.  All  behaved  as  men  and  women  of  heart  and 
honor.  Each  helped  the  other.  Owing  to  that  inborn  gift 
of  Americans,  the  readiness  to  organize,  a  sort  of  order  rose 
out  of  chaos;  the  few  troops  available  under  General 
Funston  and  General  Greeley,  who  never  hesitated  to 
take  at  the  proper  moment  the  proper  decision,  did,  like 
their  commanding  officers,  splendid  work;  unsurpassed  was 
the  work  done  by  private  citizens.  The  page  written  by  the 
inhabitants  of  San  Francisco  on  the  moving  ashes  of  their 
dead  city  is  not  one  that  any  wind  will  ever  sweep  away. 

One  of  the  testimonies  which  struck  me  most  came  from  one 
of  my  compatriots,  unknown  to  me  before,  Mr.  Thouroude, 
and  it  struck  me  so  forcibly  not  because  he  was  a  compatriot, 
but  because  he  had  every  reason  to  be  displeased  with  fate; 
and  not  to  take  an  over  optimistic  view  of  things.  An  agent 
of  his  company,  the  "Chargeurs  Reunis,"  he  was  returning 
from  the  Far  East;  he  had  lost  in  the  catastrophe  all  that  be- 
longed to  him,  including  the  result  of  the  hard  work  of 
months;  he  had  to  live  like  so  many  others  under  a  tent  in 
a  state  of  superabundant  companionship.  With  all  those 
reasons  for  not  seeing  things  under  especially  roseate  colors, 
he  wrote  me: 

"Having  been  one  of  the  witnesses  —  and  of  the  victims 
—  of  the  disaster  I  am  in  a  good  situation  to  tell  you  of 
the  admirable  courage  displayed  by  the  inhabitants  of  San 
Francisco.  I  do  not  think  that  any  people  better  seized 
a  greater  occasion  to  show  their  world  famous  energy,  their 
indomitable  faith  in  the  future,  their  scorn  for  obstacles 
and  difficulties."    Here  follows  a  description  of  the  whole 


population  of  the  great  city  made  suddenly  homeless,  bread- 
less,  clothesless,  workless:  the  complete  series  of  circum- 
stances usually  leading  to  troubles  and  riots.  "Instead  of 
troubles,"  my  compatriot  continued,  "of  troubles  which 
would  have  added  to  the  horror  of  the  disaster,  we  saw  the 
entire  population,  all  those  elements  so  dissimilar,  so  little 
bound  as  it  seemed  to  show  consideration  one  to  another, 
united  in  the  same  quiet  preoccupation  of  saving  the  little 
that  could  be  saved,  superlatively  respectful  of  other  peo- 
ple's belongings.  Many  trunks  of  inmates  of  the  great 
hotels  were  to  be  seen  stranded  and  abandoned  in  Union 
Square;  they  could  be  seen  days  after  still  abandoned  and 
still  imtouched.  .  .  .  Martial  law,  to  be  sure,  proclaimed 
from  the  first  day,  the  destruction  of  stocks  of  spirits,  the 
closing  of  saloons,  were  wise  and  useful  decisions.  But 
let  me  assure  you  that  a  handful  of  soldiers  in  so  vast  an 
area  would  have  been  helpless  if  there  had  been  nothing 
more :  the  real,  the  foremost,  the  all  powerful  protectors  of 
order  and  property,  were  before  all  the  people  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. This  is  an  homage  I  was  anxious  to  render,  as  a  true 
witness,  to  the  Americans  of  the  West,  for  deeds  of  which 
the  Americans  of  all  America  can  be  proud.  All  this  should 
be  more  widely  known  and  I  can  give  you  the  names  of  a 
number  of  French  people  of  San  Francisco  who  were  my 
companions  in  misfortune  and  who  would  confirm,  if  there 
was  need,  all  that  I  state." 

When  I  had  been  speaking  at  Philadelphia,  I  had  not 
yet  received  this  letter,  and  I  did  not  know  exactly  what 
was  going  on  at  San  Francisco.  I  felt  sure  however  that 
it  would  be  what  it  turned  out  to  be.  And  I  had  no  more 
doubt  either  as  to  the  future  than  I  had  as  to  the  present. 

What  I  thought  and  said,  happened  to  be  so  well  in 


accord  with  the  sentiments  of  my  compatriots  that  the 
Government  of  the  French  Republic  took  my  words  to  the 
letter.  I  had  spoken  of  a  medal  to  be  struck  to  commemo- 
rate the  resurrection  of  San  Francisco;  the  resurrection  has 
become  a  reality  and  the  medal  too ;  and  I  have  been  ordered 
to  cross  the  continent  and  offer  it  to  you  in  person. 

And  now,  let  me  do  so,  and  permit  me,  Mr.  Mayor,  to 
place  in  your  keeping  this  work  of  which  one  single  copy  in 
gold  has  been  made  destined  "to  the  American  people  and 
the  town  of  San  Francisco."  One  side  emblematically  shows 
your  city  rising  from  her  tomb,  and,  powerful  and  handsome 
as  ever,  throwing  off  her  shroud;  on  the  other  side,  the 
figure  of  France  is  seen,  presenting  a  branch  of  laurel  to 
America. 

Accept  this  gift,  Mr.  Mayor,  and  receive  it  you  all, 
American  citizens,  in  token  that  what  once  was,  still  is; 
that  we  French  continue,  as  of  old,  to  feel  with  you  in  your 
moments  of  happiness  or  of  anguish,  and  if  I  may  be  per- 
mitted to  appropriate  the  words  of  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  let  me 
say,  in  my  turn,  that  "we  have  in  France  a  feeling  for 
America;  and  a  sentiment,  enduring  among  a  people,  is  a 
great  and  substantial  fact  to  be  reckoned  with." 

Long  live  your  city,  and  may  continuous  prosperity  be 
the  lot  of  the  American  nation. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Ambassador's  speech  the  casket 
containing  the  Medal  was  handed  to  the  Mayor. 

The  orchestra  then  rendered  the  Marseillaise,  everyone 
standing  during  its  rendition. 


The  Mayor  then  spoke  as  follows: 

Mr.  Ambassador: 

With  feelings  of  pride  and  gratulation  I  accept,  on  behalf 
of  the  City  of  San  Francisco,  the  beautiful  medal  which  your 
government,  through  you,  has  presented  to  my  City,  in  com- 
memoration of  her  resurrection  from  the  great  disaster  which 
overtook  her  in  April  of  1906 — a  disaster  of  such  vast  mag- 
nitude as  to  carry  the  woe  of  it  around  the  world,  and  to 
set  the  heart  of  a  common  humanity  pulsing  with  new  and 
unexampled  emotion.  Then,  indeed,  did  the  sufferers  feel 
to  the  deepest  depths  of  their  being  the  insignificance  of 
human  power  in  presence  of  the  titanic  forces  of  nature; 
and  at  the  same  time  did  they  experience,  beyond  all  imagi- 
nation of  theirs,  the  boundless  riches  of  humanity  in  the 
presence  of  appeal  when  rising  from  the  ashes  and  wreck 
of  a  great  city.  So  spontaneous,  so  prompt  and  immediate, 
were  these  riches  not  only  of  needed  material  things,  but 
of  heart-appealing  sympathies,  that  ruin  itself  became  for 
the  time  supernally  glorified.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that 
with  new  strength  and  vigor,  and  keenly  appreciative  of  the 
certain  great  destiny  of  San  Francisco,  her  sons  immediately 
set  to  work  to  restore  what  had  been  lost.  And  fired  with 
noble  ambitions  and  great  desires  they  have  gone  beyond 
mere  restoration:  they  have  called  upon  all  that  is  best  in 
modern  architecture  useful  as  well  as  beautiful;  they  have 
dared  to  build  with  far  greater  amplitude  than  before; 
they  have  incurred  a  large  debt  to  replace  the  destroyed 
municipal  buildings;  they  are  constructing  a  new  sewer 
system,  and  are  greatly  improving  the  streets ;  they  are  pro- 
ceeding to  secure  additional  water  supplies,  and  as  auxiliary 
to  these  they  are  now  rapidly  building  a  fire  protection 


plant  which  will  forever  prevent  the  recurrence  of  their 
great  disaster. 

In  commemoration  of  these  restorative  labors,  unparal- 
leled in  the  history  of  cities,  you  are  here  bearing  in  your 
hands  this  medal,  so  beautifully  and  appropriately  designed, 
and  so  perfectly  and  artistically  wrought,  and  with  eloquent 
and  sympathetic  word  you  have  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  our 
City — that  City  which  will  treasure  it  as  beyond  all  value 
and  beyond  all  price.  The  Atlantic  claims  Bartholdi's  co- 
lossal "Liberty  Enlightening  the  World,"  bom  of  French 
munificence,  and  now  the  Pacific,  by  virtue  of  the  same 
munificence,  proudly  claims  this  medal,  which,  though  not 
colossal  in  size,  is  yet  superb  in  art.  We  shall  ever  hold 
in  grateful  remembrance  the  medals  which  France  has 
heretofore  bestowed  upon  our  country  in  commemoration 
of  great  events,  but  this  one  is  peculiarly  and  distinctively 
our  own,  and  we  shall  perpetually  keep  it  as  such. 

Our  hearts  swell  on  such  an  occasion  as  this  with  emo- 
tions that  bear  thoughts  beyond  adequate  expression  in 
words.  Here  the  two  great  Republics  of  the  world  clasp 
hands  with  new  fervidness,  with  a  deeper  appreciation  of 
each  other,  and  with  a  sincerity  beyond  all  challenge,  while 
they  see  in  each  other's  eyes  an  undimmed  brightness  be- 
speaking all  that  is  best  for  the  future  of  mankind.  And 
in  this  our  French  fellow  citizens,  who  have  played  such 
noble  and  worthy  part  in  all  matters  of  civic  concern,  join 
with  hearts  brimming  over  with  enthusiasm  and  admiration. 

It  is  altogether  fitting,  Mr.  Ambassador,  that  you  should 
be  the  bearer  of  this  medal  to  us — not  alone  by  reason  of 
your  official  station,  but  by  reason  as  well  of  your  valuable 
literary  labors  in  our  own  tongue.  And  in  this  connection 
I  cannot  forbear  thanking  you  for  your  historic  recital  of 


the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  Major  Pierre  I'Enfant 
given  in  your  recent  address  at  Washington  City  on  the 
occasion  of  the  reinterment  in  Arlington  Cemetery  of  the 
body  of  that  distinguished  man  who  rendered  so  many  ser- 
vices to  our  country,  not  the  least  of  which  was  the  planning, 
at  the  instance  of  General  Washington,  of  our  beautiful 
national  capital. 

San  Francisco  begs  you  will  assure  your  government  that 
it  is  in  no  perfunctory  spirit  she  receives  this  medal,  but  with 
a  spirit  of  gratefulness,  and  indeed  of  exultation,  that  so 
great  a  country  as  yours  should  deem  our  City  worthy  of 
its  especial  regard  and  favor.  At  the  same  time  we  cannot 
but  realize  that  while  this  medal  is  given  to  our  own  City,  it 
is  in  large  measure  a  gift  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and  truly  symbolizes  that  warm  and  enduring  friendship 
which  has  for  so  long  a  time  existed  between  your  country 
and  mine.  Indeed,  France  and  the  United  States  are  so 
bound  in  the  golden  coils  of  that  friendship  as  to  make  the 
breaking  of  them  inconceivable.  What  American  can  bring 
to  mind  the  virtual  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  at 
Yorktown,  where  Washington,  La  Fayette  and  Rochambeau 
so  perfectly  and  so  successfully  co-operated  to  a  glorious 
result,  without  being  thrilled  to  the  utmost  recesses 
of  his  being?  The  alliance  of  France  with  the  States  in 
their  struggle  for  independence  was  so  inestimable,  that 
even  now  we  are  prone  to  shudder  when  we  think  what 
might  have  happened  had  we  been  without  it. 

Well  may  we  stir  at  the  name  of  France — France,  that 
burst  the  chains  wherewith  the  centuries  had  bound  her, 
and  with  an  enfranchised  people  victoriously  fronted  all 
Europe  in  arms;  France,  that  flimg  athwart  the  welcoming 
heavens  the  noblest  political  ideal  ever  seen  by  struggling 


humanity — Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity;  France,  the  suc- 
cessor of  ancient  Greece  in  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
form,  and  by  reason  of  this,  of  her  many  great  men,  and  of 
her  Academy,  influencing  Art  and  Literature  so  widely  and 
so  profoundly,  that  no  other  country  can  be  mentioned  as 
a  rival ;  France,  whose  drama  touches  every  chord  of  our  be- 
ing, and  whose  music  rolls  in  waves  of  triumph  throughout 
the  world;  France,  that  gave  us  the  almost  superhuman 
Balzac  who  alone,  of  all  the  sons  of  men,  can  be  named  with 
Shakespeare;  France,  that  produced  in  the  person  of  Des- 
cartes the  father  of  modem  philosophy;  France,  that  has 
surveyed  from  innumerable  mountain  peaks  the  far,  out- 
reaching  territories  of  Science;  France,  whose  recuperative 
power  in  every  century  of  the  past,  no  matter  what  loss  of 
blood  and  treasure  was  hers,  has  amazed  the  world;  France, 
whose  language  is  unrivalled  in  precision  of  statement,  the 
integrity  and  purity  of  which  are  maintained  through  the 
admirable  device  of  her  Academy;  France,  whom  every 
Muse  has  blest;  France,  the  land  of  illustrious  men  whose 
names  are  set  in  the  empyrean  of  the  ages,  immortal  as  the 
stars.  To  this  France,  laurel-crowned,  and  shining  resplen- 
dent in  the  forefront  of  nations,  we  give  the  homage  of  our 
minds  and  hearts. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Mayor's  speech  the  orchestra 
rendered  The  Star  Spangled  Banner,  everyone  standing 
during  its  rendition. 

The  audience  thereupon  dispersed. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  PINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $I.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


#ri6tt6?65 


imsm/nsa 


SEPi  "^t^'RAIL 


AUG?  '  1994 


vmyTFigTmr 


AUTODBCCIRC^US^ 


